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ROGGWIL, Switzerland, Sept. 27, 2012 /CNW/ - Colds and flu are the most
frequent illnesses experienced by the Western world. They lead to
tremendous costs to public health and the economy, being the leading
cause of absences from work and school. This is especially the case
during the autumn and winter months when almost everyone suffers colds
or flu a few times.

Immune resistance
Despite decades of pharmaceutical research, scientists have not found a
specific way to prevent the disease. The key reason for this is the
enormous variety of viruses causing colds or flu - today, more than 200
different respiratory viruses are known and new viruses are discovered
every year. An alternative approach to preventing colds is to build the
body's immune resistance.

Preventionandreduction of pain medication
Extracts made from the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) are successfully used for this purpose. Recently, scientists in the
United Kingdom performed the world's largest clinical study using Echinacea. The conclusions were clear - the use of a specific extract of Echinacea (Echinaforce®) was able to fight off recurrent cold episodes, reduce
the days with colds and the need for synthetic pain-relievers
containing paracetamol or ibuprofen commonly used to treat the symptoms
of colds and flu.

Effective preventionfor those susceptibletocolds
Stress, poor sleep, or smoking have a negative impact on the immune
system and make people more susceptible to infections. Intriguingly,
the strongest protection against colds and flu was seen in individuals
with increased stress and/or recurrent infections. The negative impacts
of stress or poor sleep appear to be compensated on the level of the
immune system during long-term intake of Echinaforce®, resulting in a
higher resistance to infections.

Safefor long-term use
Another very important conclusion of this latest study is that even
after using Echinaforce® for 4 months, no further adverse events
occurred with Echinaforce® than with placebo and the tolerability was
very good.

A strong immune resistance is a basic pre-requisite for the attainment
of good health and performance. Extracts from the purple coneflower
provide effective and safe immune support during periods of stress and
throughout the whole winter season.